


Stuck in Second Gear

by cthuloops



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Friends (TV) Fusion, Basically Friends but Supernatural, M/M, Past Castiel/Meg Masters, past lisa/dean
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-08
Updated: 2014-01-08
Packaged: 2018-01-07 22:59:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1125401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cthuloops/pseuds/cthuloops
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The One where Sam Gets a Roommate: A friend from the Winchester's past comes stumbling through the door of a coffee shop, and back into their lives.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stuck in Second Gear

 

The day began like any other: at the coffee shop. Sam had his feet propped up on the small table by the couch, drinking his cup of hazelnut coffee, Charlie nestled comfortably on the opposite end. Garth was slumped down in one of the armchairs. And, of course, Gabriel sat in a chair he’d pulled up from one of the nearby tables, reading the newspaper and commenting on the obituaries.

“Do you really need to tell us how you think they died?” Sam asked, setting his glass down on the table and rolling his eyes.

“You know, it’s kind of fun,” Gabriel replied with a look of genuine amusement. “Don’t ruin my moment.”

He continued with his storytelling, sometimes earning a small snort from Garth. This was interrupted a few minutes later by a depressed “Hey”, coming from the man standing behind the couch.

“You alright, man?” Sam asked as he turned and looked up at his older brother, Dean, drenched from the rain outside even though he was clearly holding an umbrella.

Dean gave a shrug and waved his hand in the air, a gesture that meant ‘don’t worry about it’. “It just feels like someone pulled my lungs out through my throat, is all.”

Gabriel, nose still shoved in the obituaries, gave a small chuckle.

“Lisa finished moving out today,” Sam explained. Dean threw himself onto the couch in between his brother and Charlie, who immediately shot him a knowing look, but decided to stay silent for the time being.

“I’ll be fine,” came his reply after catching the glances he was being thrown. “I hope she’ll be-” Dean paused and gave a loud groan before continuing. “Screw it, this blows.”

Garth perked up, though he’d been silent most of this ordeal, and tore his absentminded gaze away from the floor to look up at Dean.

“Can’t believe you didn’t know she was a lesbian,” he pondered, earning narrowed eyes from Sam.

“Sometimes I wish I was a lesbian.”

Charlie snorted into her coffee, and suddenly all eyes were on Gabriel. Apparently, he hadn’t known he’d spoken out loud and gave them all confused looks once he pulled away from the newspaper in his hand.

“...You know what, shove it, I do.” No one was shocked, really. That’s just the kind of thing you learned to expect from Gabriel.

With everyone’s focus, one by one, returning to Dean, he made a small noise and slumped down against Charlie’s shoulder.

“I just wanna be married again,” he said when Charlie wrapped her arm around him. It was around that time that the bell on the front door jingled, and a young dark-haired man came stumbling in, blue eyes wide. He was wearing a… tuxedo, of all things. Who in the world…?

A joke poured out of Gabriel’s mouth, but it wasn’t caught by Sam, who stood up immediately and rushed over to the man with a puzzled look on his face

“God... Castiel?” he asked, staring at the man.

“Oh, hello, Sam,” Castiel said, his expression crestfallen, though relieved. “I am looking for a liquor store, but I suppose this will do.” Sam raised an eyebrow.

“A--a liquor store? That’s down the street. Here, let’s get you a coffee...”

 -

Once the coffee was ordered, Sam turned Castiel around to introduce him to everyone.

“Ah, right. Everyone, this is my old friend Cas. Another Edlund High survivor,” Sam said, grinning. He pointed at each of the friends as he introduced them. “Gabriel, Charlie, and Garth. And you already know my brother, Dean.”

Dean reached his hand out instinctively, to shake Cas’. His umbrella had other ideas and unfurled itself, narrowly missing Castiel’s groin.

A few awkward looks were exchanged, and soon Cas was nestled comfortably in between Charlie and Dean on the long yellow couch. Sam perched himself on top of the arm of the couch and waited. When Castiel gave no explanation as to why he was in a tux and in search of a liquor store, he prompted him with a question.

“So… are we waiting for the rest of the well-dressed garrison or…” Castiel smiled and shook his head, eyes trained on his sleek black shoes.

“I realized, while I was, uh, ‘hiding’, for lack of a better word, that I could not go through with marrying Meg. It was unfortunate, but I didn’t know where else to go,” he shot a pleading look between Sam and Dean. “I know it is a very sudden request, but do you think that perhaps you have a phone I could use?”

\---

While the rest of the group huddled in Sam’s living room, piled onto the couch to narrate a Spanish soap opera together, Castiel was pacing around the kitchen. The phone was pressed up against his ear and he was still in his partially-dry tuxedo.

“Father-- Father, no. I don’t wish to marry M-- well, it matters to me!” Castiel tried to speak quietly. Dean weaved his way around Castiel and into the kitchen, swiping a beer from Sam’s fridge.

“Of course I have free will, father. Well… Maybe I’ll just stay with Sam.”

His words came out before he could catch them, and suddenly everyone was staring back at Sam, whose face turned a light shade of pink.

“Uh…” Sam tried to find a way around the situation before sighing and shrugging. “I guess it’s settled that he’s staying with Sam.”

 -

Less than a half hour later, Castiel found himself curled over on Sam’s couch, breathing heavily into a paper bag, Sam coaching him through the exhales. It took some coaxing and a few comforting back rubs from Charlie, but soon Castiel was able to breathe steady on his own and he gave them a nod.

“Thank you. I believe I am fine, now,” he replied without looking up. Sam grabbed him by the shoulders with firm hands and gave him a friendly shake.

“C’mon, Cas. This’ll be great for you. Free will, the whole nine,” Sam was smiling, but only for Castiel’s sake. Garth crept up behind the couch and swung himself overtop of it, curling an arm around Cas.

“If you ever need anything, you can always count on Garth. Gabe and I live across the hall, and our door is always open.” He gave a wink before returning to the sandwich in his hand. He’d always been friendly, but Castiel didn’t know him that well, and gave him a mildly frightened look.

Before he could say anything, the buzzer rang. They all stared at it for a couple of seconds. Gabriel, of course, was the first to spring into action.

“Please don’t do that again, it’s a horrible sound,” he called back down to whomever it was. Sam’s eyes grew wide as the woman buzzing from downstairs made herself known.

“Wait-- Sarah? Oh God, what time is it?” Dean laughed as he watched his brother leap up from his seat, gesturing for Gabriel to let Sarah in.

“Oh,” Sam muttered after a moment, looking down at a forlorn Castiel, who had a few balled up tissues in his hands. “I can-- I can cancel, if you…?”

Castiel looked up at Sam and grinned.

“Thank you, Sam, but I believe I’ll be fine,” he said, trying to assure Sam that he didn’t need him to skip out on his date. Sam smiled and turned to Dean, who had fallen silent and was staring at his shoes.

“Dean…?” Dean looked up to meet Sam’s eyes and broke out in laughter, clapping a hand on Sam’s shoulder and shoving him towards the door.

“Dude, it’s Sarah. We’ll be fine.” Relief washed over Sam’s face and he walked over beside Gabriel to open the door, revealing a young woman with dark brown hair and a smile teasing at her lips.

As Sam opened the door, he wasn’t expecting his friends to all say her name at once, minus Gabriel, who held out his hand and in a teasing voice, said, “Sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”

\-----

“So, uh,” Dean began. They’d seated Sarah in the living room while Sam got dressed (not after Dean teased him a few times for ‘being such a girl’, which earned a nice smack from Charlie). He stood in the small kitchen, leaning on the counter, right behind where Castiel was sitting at the table. “Any plans for tonight?”

“Well, I am supposed to be going on my honeymoon so…” Castiel managed a smirk and shifted his gaze up to Dean. “No.”

“Right,” was all Dean could say as he stared into the drink in his hand. He’d realized that was probably a stupid question, but thankfully Cas just smiled up at him.

“Garth and Gabe are gonna help me put some furniture together in my new apartment, if--”

“No,” Castiel said in a flourish. “No, it has been a very tiring day. I think I’ll just stay here, but I appreciate the offer.” Dean nodded, and watched his brother’s friend relocate to the bench seat near the window.

\----

Back at Dean’s new apartment, not far from Sam’s, the three of them were kneeling on the floor. It looked like an Ikea had exploded in there, and Dean read the instructions with narrowed eyes.

“Alright, screw this, I can’t feel my legs,” Dean groaned, standing up and giving himself a stretch. Garth and Gabriel stared at a piece of material that Garth held in his hands, a makeshift bookcase standing before them.

“What is this?” he asked, turning to Gabriel for an answer. The shorter man shrugged, though offered an answer anyway.

“I’m gonna go with an L-shaped bracket, G.”

Gabriel didn’t, however, offer any idea as to where it went, so Garth shrugged and tossed it in the pot of a plant that sat in the corner. The two of them turned to Dean and held their arms out.

“Looks like we’re all done here, Dean-o!” Gabriel’s smile fell as soon as he saw Dean’s face.

“I miss Lisa,” he said, and Gabriel heaved an exasperated sigh.

“Oh, please don’t ruin all this fun we’re having.” It was a joke, of course; kneeling for two hours and barely managing to finish a single bookcase couldn’t constitute as fun, but he tried to keep the mood light.

“I’m divorced!” Dean exclaimed to his friends, who seated themselves on the floor to try and continue building Dean’s furniture. Keyword: try. “I’m twenty-six, and I’m divorced!”

“Not that my heart ain’t breakin’ for ya, but shut up,” Gabe hissed as he examined the strange structure Dean had barely put together earlier. One tap of his finger, and it collapsed. With a sigh, he turned around and looked up to face Dean.

“Chick’ll rip your heart out,” he said, and as the two on the floor stood up, Garth nodded in agreement. “That’s why he and I? Don’t do long term gigs.”

Dean chewed on this for a second. As… interesting as the concept was, it just wasn’t him. He was used to being in one steady relationship, or no relationship at all. Not the kind of flings Gabriel and Garth had. He lifted a hand to rub his temple.

“Even if I get it together enough to ask someone out,” he made sure to emphasize ‘someone’-- it wasn’t exactly a secret that Dean was interested in both men and women. “Who would I ask?”

\------

“Meg,” Castiel spoke into the phone. He’d showered and changed out of his tuxedo. Now, pacing around Sam’s living room, he gripped the phone tight and sighed. “I would like to apologize for any harsh words I may have said to you before I left. Some man is going to be very lucky to marry you one day, but I’m sorry. It is not me.”

Cas found himself on the couch after hanging up, watching ‘Happy Days’, clutching his tuxedo in his hand and trying to maintain a stony expression. It wasn’t doing anything to help his mood. Happy Days… Nothing seemed very happy. He certainly wasn’t happy. He was supposed to marry the woman of his dreams but he just… couldn’t.

Castiel flipped the television off and looked around the dark room of Sam’s New York City apartment. The easiest thing for him to do would have been to cry. He didn’t. Castiel chose to discard his tuxedo on the couch where he once sat and walk over to the padded bench by the window that overlooked the street below.

The rain had stopped, thankfully, but the window was cool to the touch, and Castiel leaned his forehead against it with a sigh.

\-----

The next morning, Cas’ mood was much improved. He’d managed to wake up just early enough to make a pot of coffee-- something he had never done before. It wasn’t a foreign concept, making coffee, but the machine, with all those buttons…

Still, he gave Garth and Gabriel both a smile as they sat down at Sam’s small table, placing a few mugs of coffee in front of them.

“I’ve never made coffee before,” Cas spoke, out of breath from the excitement of this whole new experience. “If I can make a pot of coffee, there isn’t anything I can’t do.”

As great as the thought was, Gabriel rolled his eyes and stared down into his cup, nose wrinkled at just the smell of it.

“Pretty sure it’s ‘If I can invade Poland’, there isn’t anything I can’t do, Cassie,” he joked. Castiel ignored him completely. Garth raised the cup to his lips and beamed up at Castiel before drinking any of it.

“Hey, you know, if you’re in the mood, maybe you should cook us up some omelettes , or somethin’.” His heart was set on that-- right until the tepid liquid hit his tongue. Gabriel seemed to have the same reaction, and the two exchanged disgusted looks with one another. To spare Castiel’s feelings, the pair dumped the rest of their bitter coffee into a house plant that Sam kept on the table.

“You know, scratch that, we’re not really hungry,” Garth called over to Cas. He wasn’t in a rush to find out just how rusty Cas’ cooking skills were.

Behind them, Sam’s bedroom door creaked open. Sam appeared in the doorway, hair rumpled from sleep. He frowned slightly when he saw his neighbors already seated at his table, like they lived there.

“Perfect,” Sam said with a sigh. “Lenny and Squiggy are here.” He exchanged ‘good morning’s with everyone, though to their surprise, he was soon followed by his date from the night before, Sarah. Garth stared at her for a moment before speaking.

“Mornin’, Sarah.” This was soon followed by Castiel’s own ‘Hello, Sarah’. Once again Gabriel had to have the last word all to himself, rolling his eyes and saying, “I’m sorry. Sarah, was it?”

Sam gave him the finger behind his back while he lead Sarah outside and away from the people he voluntarily chose to associate with. Sometimes he wondered why...

“Alright, kids,” Gabriel said once Sarah was gone and Sam had come back inside. “Time for work. If I don’t input those numbers,” he paused. Sam’s eyes were locked on him and he couldn’t help but smirk. “No one will really give a shit!”

“Wait,” Castiel spoke before Gabriel was able to leave. “Do you… all have jobs?”

“Uh, yeah. That’s kinda how we pay for things,” said Sam with a confused smile. It was just another concept that seemed completely lost on his new roommate.

Garth made the mistake of mentioning that he was an actor, which Gabriel took and just ran with-- literally. He pranced out Sam’s front door, mocking Garth, who turned to Cas and Sam with a smile.

“Don’t you just love ‘m?”

With that last statement and a confused look from Castiel, he gave them a wave and followed Gabriel out the door.

Castiel sat down where Garth once was at the table in Sam’s kitchen, eyes narrowed. Every one of his new acquaintances had a job… he figured it was about time for him to get one. Right? Sam finished his glass of juice before standing up and clapping a  hand to Castiel’s shoulder, grabbing a coat and reaching for the door handle to leave for work himself.

“Wish me luck,” Castiel called as Sam walked out the door. Sam turned to face him, confused. “I am going to go out and get a-- a job.”

\------

“I hate her. I hate her!” Sam growled. They were in the coffee house later that day, Sam standing behind the couch, angry after finding out Sarah had been sleeping with one of his other co workers. It shouldn’t have been that big of a deal, but he liked her.

“No, don’t hate. We don’t need more of that in the world,” Charlie, seated on the floor in front of the couch, shot a glance over her shoulder to Sam. He sighed and walked around to sit on the couch beside Charlie. His moping was interrupted by the bell on the front door, and in walked Castiel, carrying a shopping bag, a huge grin on his face.

“Did you get a job?” Dean asked, returning his grin with a lopsided smile. Castiel shook his head, sliding the bag from his arm to sit on the couch beside Sam.

“No, people laughed at me because I have little work experience!” Regardless of how upset this statement would have made other people, Cas continued to grin, which prompted Gabriel to ask his next question.

“And suddenly you’re Mr. Chuckles?” He was, of course, talking about Castiel’s surprisingly upbeat attitude despite not being able to find a job just yet. Cas took his comment into careful consideration as he took a rather large box from his shopping bag, opening it to reveal a long tan coat.

“You would be happy as well if you had just got a brand new trench coat,” he replied, eyes on the coat with a smile.

“Wow, and already you know me so well!” came Gabe’s tease, but he didn’t say anything else and returned to his coffee

\-------

Castiel revealed to Sam that he was still using his father’s funds to purchase things, to which Sam said ‘absolutely not’. Back in Sam’s apartment, they all sat huddled around the table as Sam urged Castiel to cut the credit cards he had been using in half.

“Come on, Cas,” Dean said as he gave him a nudge. “We believe in you.” It wasn’t much, but it was something, and Castiel gave him a grateful smile before sighing and taking the pair of scissors from Sam. Dean beamed and nudged him again. “If you can make coffee, there ain’t nothin’ you can’t do.”

Gabriel, who knew just how terrible Castiel’s coffee was, pulled the dead plant into his arms. Thankfully, everyone seemed too focused on Cas to notice.

The blades of the scissors finally snapped shut around the first credit card. Just the sound of it made Castiel flinch, but the applause and praise that spilled from the others made him smile. Maybe freedom wasn’t such a bad thing, after all.

\-------

“You gonna crash on the couch?” Sam asked as he flipped the television off. The sun set, and night fell, which left only his brother and Castiel seated in his living room, watching some late night special on TV. Dean sighed and shook his head.

“No, I’m good. Gotta go home sometime.” Sam nodded and gave him a pat on the back before telling the two of them goodnight and retreating to his room. Dean and Cas exchanged shy glances before simultaneously reaching for the last cookie that sat on a plate on the coffee table in front of Sam’s TV.

“Shit, sorry you--”

“Oh, no, it’s okay, Dean.”

“...split it?”

Cas gave him a smile, and  tilted his head while he nodded. Dean took in a sharp inhale and he broke the cookie in half, handing Castiel the larger piece. Cas gave another nod of thanks, not failing to notice the pink blush that rose on Dean’s cheeks.

“You know,” Dean began. He cleared his throat as he paused and played with the cookie in his hands. “When we were in high school, uh. I, you know. Kinda had this crush on you.”

“I knew,” Cas said, still smiling. Of course he knew. Everyone knew. It wasn’t like Dean tried to keep it that much of a secret.

“Oh. I thought you just thought I was Sam’s stupid older brother.”

“Dean.” Castiel’s tone surprised Dean, he he looked up from his hands. Cas had his head tilted to the side and his blue eyes were so focused on Dean. “I never thought you were stupid.”

There was silence between the two for a few seconds, both of them staring everywhere else except for at each other, when Dean spoke again.

“Hey, Cas. Listen, do you think it would be alright if, maybe, I asked you out sometime?” It was a long shot-- a very, very long shot. Cas had been getting married to a woman. Dean had absolutely no idea if he was interested in other men at all. But Castiel nodded after thinking about it for a few seconds.

“Yes. Maybe,” he said in a soft voice before standing up and walking to the guest bedroom. “Goodnight, Dean.”

**Author's Note:**

> Kate (alaestiel, richardspehghtjr on tumblr) came up with this idea, and we just kinda ran with it. I wrote this first chapter. If enough people enjoy it, she'll be writing the next one, and so on! We hope you guys do like it, because this was so fun to plan out


End file.
